Our Attorneys

Melissa A. Haselden is a founding member of Haselden Farrow, whose practice focuses primarily on business bankruptcy and reorganization, as well as out of court restructuring and workouts. Melissa is Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, a member of the Texas Bar College, and has over 25 years’ experience helping troubled companies. 

Melissa has successfully utilized the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process to help restructure numerous debtor businesses in such diverse fields as manufacturing, oilfield services, real estate developers, apartment projects, health care service providers, funeral homes, retailers, private schools, and other service-based enterprises. Melissa has also worked with numerous companies to orderly liquidate businesses both inside and outside of bankruptcy.

Melissa provides representation to creditors in bankruptcy cases including landlords, institutional lenders, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, and bankruptcy trustees.

Melissa also serves as a Subchapter V Trustee under the Small Business Reorganization Act which was enacted in 2019. Melissa serves as a Subchapter V Trustee for small business cases filed in the Southern District of Texas.

B.S. Finance, University of South Florida

J.D., University of Houston Law Center

Texas, 1995

Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy by Texas Board of Legal Specialization

Bankruptcy Mediator certified through St John’s University/ABI

TMA Large Company Turnaround Award  - 2016 Chicago Division

Member Texas Bar College

Federal District and Bankruptcy Courts for Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas.

Texas State District Courts 

State Bar of Texas

Houston Bar Association

American Bankruptcy Institute

Moller Foltz Inns of Court

Turnaround Management Association

Secured Finance Network

National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees

American Bankruptcy Institute

Seminar: "Chapter 11 Bankruptcy: Good News, Bad News" presented to Houston Bar Association corporate law section.

Seminar: “Chapter 11 in a Nutshell” presented to Houston Association Bankruptcy Paralegals on  November 5, 2010.

Case study: How the TMA Chicago Turnaround of the Year winner completed a successful out-of-court restructuring presented to Houston TMA, February 1, 2017.

Representative Debtor Cases

Significant cases

*   United Engineers - resolved multi-year litigation through a successful Subchapter V reorganization.

*   NoMaD Retail et al- reorganized multi-state mattress retailer in Subchapter V of Chapter 11.

*   Matra Petroleum USA et al- liquidated oil wells in a Chapter 11 363 sale.

*   Midway Oilfield Constructors, Inc.- liquidated oilfield service equipment and vacuum trucks in Chapter 11 auction.

*   S Chase Limited Partnership et al – worked with Debtors to conduct a 363 sale of three apartment complex projects located in the Houston area.

*   Xtralight Manufacturing- helped to restructure and reorganize lighting manufacturer in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

*   Karia Y WM Ltd – effectuated a sale of commercial real estate through Chapter 11 plan.

*   Petroleum Products & Services, Inc.- successfully reorganized Chapter 11 oilfield service company.

*   Tifaro Group, Ltd. – Chapter 11 liquidation of investment assets.

*   Victory Medical Center Mid-Cities, LP et al – sale of several emergency room properties through a Chapter 11 363 sale.

Other Significant Debtor Cases

*   Marx Steel, LLC;    

*  ESP Petroleum Products, Inc. et al; 

*   Sentry Operating Company of Texas; 

*   Master Tile;

*   Gulf Coast Glass & Erection Co; 

*   Texas Systems & Controls; 

*   Sterling Affiliates, Ltd.; 

*   Goldstar Emergency Services, Inc.; 

*   Particle Drilling; 

*   OP Financial, LLC et al; 

*   Mud King Products, Inc.; 

*   United DC, Inc; 

*   Diamond Beach, VP LP; 

*   Sapphire VP, LP; 

*   RB Processing, LLC; 

*   Waco Town Square Partners; 

*   Multiworth Partnership Ltd.; and 

*   Cottage School Systems

Elyse M. Farrow is a founding member of Haselden Farrow. Since 2008, Elyse has been focused on business litigation and corporate law. While more recently she has operated in the corporate general counsel space, she does have significant first chair experience in complex commercial litigation, jury and non-jury trials, in state and federal court.

She concentrates in the following areas:

· Corporate Formation and Structure

· Corporate Law

· Contract Law

· Business Litigation

· Administrative (DOL)

· Transportation (trucking)

B.A. Government, University of Texas

J.D., South Texas College of Law

Texas, 2008

Federal District Court for Southern District of Texas.

Texas State District Courts  

State Bar of Texas

Houston Bar Association

American Bar Association

Ft. Bend Bar Association

Texas Exes

CLE Presenter: “Application of Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and Texas State Law to Interstate Sales Transaction, Topic Removal to Federal Court” presented December 18, 2009 in Banff, Canada.

Seminar Presenter: “Fair Labor Standards Act and the Department of Labor” presented to the University of Houston Small Business Administration, July 2010 in Houston, Texas.

Seminar Presenter: “VLF’s Women’s Forum Roundtable Speaking Event focusing on Business Women, Topic Pre-Nups and Post-nups, Protecting your Assets,” 2010.

Radio Co-Host: Co-hosted radio program with The Midtown Meeting focusing on Houston entrepreneurs, December 21, 2010. 

Significant cases

*   Homoki v. Conversion Services, Inc. – Represented the Plaintiff, and received $2.8 million jury verdict in federal court after a six-day trial.

*   Sentinel Integrity Solutions, Inc. v. Boomer, Inc. d/b/a Reeves Construction, and Jeff Boomer, Individually - Represented the Plaintiff.

*   The Nouri Group, Ltd. v. Frank D. Snider d/b/a Allday Asphalt Paving - Represented the Plaintiff.

*   International Fire Protection, Inc. v. Marine Foods, Ltd. and PRJ Enterprises, Ltd - Represented the Defendant.

*   BHL International, Inc. v. Reuel Lataquin - Represented the Plaintiff.

*   Joe Glenn Wilkins, Jr. v. Disaster Services Group, LLC - Represented the Plaintiff.

*   Absolute Crane Services, Inc. v. Brian Butzke, Micheal Lamy, Angela Beard d/b/a A&B Crane, and Crane Surgeon Crane and Equipment Services, LLC - Represented the Plaintiff.

*   Medical Evaluators of Texas ASO, LLC v. Sanjay Khanduja - Represented the Plaintiff.

*   Sarah A. Cordovi v. Faveo LLC d/b/a Direct Buy - Represented the Defendant.

*   Trident Steel Corporation v. Morris Industries, Inc. - Represented the Defendant.